Always waiting for something more
by BrokenWingsOfGold
Summary: She was always waiting for something more, something better. Max has jumped from foster home to foster home all her life, with this one finally show her what love is? Fax! New version of always waiting.
1. New faces

**Hey so this is the first chapter of the redo of always waiting. It's pretty much the same as this was the only chapter I actually liked. There's just a few changes, I've changed some bits so they aren't so dramatic, hope you like it, please review.**

**Max Pov**

"Okay Max, this is your new home, now I'm sure you're going to love it here, it's…." this is where I stopped listening to Miss Fandi's lecture of how great this family is and bla, bla, bla…. Hey don't judge, I've heard it all before.

You see Miss Fandi is my social worker, or my agent, or whatever the hell you want to call her. She takes me to my new foster home and introduces me to my new family…..just like she has done for the other fifty-three foster homes I have been to.

Yes, you heard me right I have been to fifty-three freaking foster homes full of love and compassion and happiness….. Yeah no, that's so not what happened but hey, a girl can dream.

Okay I guess I should tell you who I am…..

My name is Maximum Ride, I'm sixteen, I have brown hair with blonde streaks, and brown eyes…..one of my foster fathers told me it looked like barfed up chocolate, and we all know that every teenage girl wants to be told their eyes looked like something coming up from someone's digestive system.

Please note the sarcasm in the last sentence.

I have had a pretty rough life, but not the way most girls seem to think. I once asked a girl how bad her life was and she said it was 'absolutely horrible' all because her dad wouldn't let her get her belly button pieced, I mean if that was the worst the that happened in my life I would be skipping in a meadow singing 'oh what a wonderful world'. Okay so no, I wouldn't, but you catch my drift.

So todays the day I get to move into my _fifty-forth _foster home, oh the joys to be had. I've already met my foster mum, her name is Valencia Martinez, Hispanic, talkative, everything I'm not. She has brown hair, a much darker shade then mine and brown eyes but not as deep as mine, she is really pretty and seemed really nice but don't they all?

"Maximum Ride, have you been listening to a world I have said?" Miss Fandi asked in that strict tone that says 'I am disappointed with your behaviour so answer with care here', yeah I'm sure we all know that voice, except your parents would be using it not your social worker who is about to drop you off to your own personal hell.

"Nope", I innocently replied as she sighed and took deep calming breaths.

"Max…I know you're worried but there's no need to be," she said in a gentle tone meant for two year olds.

"No need to be worried!" I screeched, "you have said that about every other foster home I have been to and look where that's got me," I was full on shouting as we pulled up outside the house…..my new house. There was no way I was calling it a home, because if I had it my way I wouldn't even be here.

"Max, calm down, no one here is going to hurt you, I promise," Miss Fandi said steadily.

"Yeah and how many times have you said that before," I replied knowing I was stooping low but I had to let my anger out somehow. I turned and looked at her and, just like I had predicted, she looked hurt, I was filled with guilt, I felt terrible.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that," I said quickly, my voice filling the ever silent car.

"No Max, that's the thing, you did mean that, but I promise you this one will be different, Val is an old friend of mine, I swear she wouldn't dream of hurting you, and her kids will stop anyone from touching you as long as you let them in, now come on you have a family to meet," and with that she opened the door and got out of the car.

I roughly slammed the door as I got out, grabbed my bag, yes I only had one bag, it was a Sportsgirl bag and in it was everything I owned, which consisted of two pairs of old tatty jeans, three tops and a hoodie, plus a notebooks which I wrote all my songs and stuff like that. Miss Fandi was already knocking on the door by this stage so I rushed up and stood next to her, while observing the house.

It seemed like one of those picture perfect houses, with the white picket fence and rose bushes. The house itself was huge, two stories high, it was a pale white colour and the roof a dark brown, the forest could be seen behind the house, a dense canopy of trees poking around the side.

"Bianca!" Mrs Martinez stood at the door, a welcoming smile brightening her face as she talked to Miss Fandi (Bianca is her first name) about what lovely weather we have today. "Max, how are you? Are you excited to be moving in with us? I'm sure you will love it here," she gushed as she ushered us into the house.

"Oh, I'm sure I will," I said darkly, Miss Fandi shot me a look, you know that look that say 'shut up before you freak her out', yeah that's the one I got, I just smirked in reply. This was going to be fun.

**Fang Pov**

"Iggy, STOP PACING, you're driving me insane" I said in frustration as I watched my best friend pace back and forth in the living room of his awesome house (What? His house is awesome, it's big and has a giant backyard that backs onto the woods, what's not to like?), although if I were him right now I would probably be pacing to.

Today he is getting a new foster sister, all we know is that her name is Max, she has had a tough life and doesn't trust people easily. Val (Iggy's mum) was the only one who had met her, so everyone else had to wait till she gets here.

Right now, Val was rushing around making sure not a speck of dust was anywhere in sight, Iggy was STILL pacing, Nudge ( who is Iggy's adoptive sister) was talking nonstop about how she and Max will be best friends , Angel and Gazzy are playing Uno and I am sitting watching them all try and stop stressing. Wow, is it just me or did that last sentence sound really stalkerish?

Suddenly there is a knock at the door, Val rushes over to the door, and talks to whoever is outside for a few minutes before ushering two people in. One looks about forty, with her red hair in a tight bun, grey eyes and formal clothes, a pencil skirt and white shirt. The other person is a teenage girl with brown/blonde hair with brown eyes, she was skinny but not anorexic or anything, just thin and well-shaped. She had a sort of emotionless resigned look as she looked over us all.

"Well Max, this is James, but he prefers to be called Iggy, he is your foster brother, this is Monique, although we all call her Nudge, you'll find out why soon enough, she's your foster sister, this is Nick, but we all call him Fang, Lucas, but we call him Gazzy….for obvious reasons and the is Angel. Fang, Gazzy and Angel are your next door neighbours; they live in the house to the left." Val said gesturing to each of us at appropriate times. Max gave a curt nod at each of us and turned around to give a pleading look at her social worker.

**Max Pov**

Okay so my foster family and my next door neighbours were well, ahh…different?

Mental chart: (Do not dis the mental chart! It helps, trust me try it out)

Iggy-Strawberry blonde, blue eyed, tall (he is at least 6'4) pale kid, who I now have to think of as my _brother_.

Nudge- Hispanic African American, short with mocha skin and curly hair, who is my foster _sister _from this moment on.

Fang- Hot emo…wait WHAT! Forget I said that! He has black hair that falls to the collar of his black shirt, he had endless black eyes….or is it dark brown, I'm not too sure, he is wearing all black clothes, (see what I mean, emo) and is a least 6'3 and extremely good looking.

Did anyone else notice I took more time to describe Fang?

Gazzy and Angel- obviously twins, blonde hair blue eyed, absolutely adorable! I wouldn't ever say any of this out loud but they are like the cutest little kids I have ever seen.

I gave each a nod and turned to Miss Fandi begging her with my eyes not to make me stay here. But of course this is my life were talking about, so she grabs her bag says goodbye gives me The 'Look' (and yes it did need capital letters)and walks out back to the car and drives away.

After a minute or two of silence Val (she told me to call her that until I am comfortable calling her mum) took me up to my room, she says tomorrow we will go shopping and I can pick out furniture and paint so until then I can stay in the guest room, I happily obliged.

I was laying on the bed in the guestroom listening to music; I only have two words to describe it…too colourful. It was like a rainbow went and spewed all over the room.

Anyhow, as I said I was laying on the bed listening to music from my beloved iPod Touch, it was a present from my best friend from my last foster home, as I laid there I started to sing along to the music filling my ears, it's a good way to fill in time, plus I am too into the music to think about what sort of place the house really is. What sort of family this really is. God I hope it's better than the last one.

But Hope only gets us so far.


	2. Haunting past

Hey guys! Thanks to all those who reviewed, hope you like this chapter. Max doesn't talk much and you won't see much of Fang…..yet. Don't worry Fax with come soon. =) As will music and other characters- try and guess who.

Chapter two

Max Pov

"_Max, why didn't you save me…..you could have jumped in front of me and I wouldn't have died.'_

"_I would have lived."_

"_It's all your fault Max."_

"_You could have saved me."_

* * *

><p>I woke up in a cold sweat, the face of my brother still swimming before my eyes. I looked over to the digital clock, my bleary vision taking in the numbers of two am.<p>

I've been having this dream since _he_ died; I was ten at the time, and my little brother Ari was not yet six. Jeb, my good for nothing father thought it would be fun to wake us both up for a midnight beating. He was furious when I began to fight back and took great pleasure in fabricating a story that Ari had died in a car accident.

But I knew different.

Jeb killed Ari, he killed his own son. He killed the only thing that gave my life meaning.

I guess you could say that was when lost all trust in adults; when I realised that if I wanted something I had to go and get it, not wait for someone else to do it for me.

I knew what would happen here. The same thing that happened at nearly every other foster home I have been to. They would all be nice for a while, then suddenly something would break inside them and the abuse would start. But it didn't matter; by that time I would be long gone.

The only reason I'm not leaving now is because somewhere deep, _deep_ inside me, I hold only the hope that this time it would be different.

I know its hours later; but eventually I fall into a fitful sleep filled with memories and nightmares.

Actually I don't know if there's a difference between the two anymore.

* * *

><p>By morning I felt better, my nightmare having finally passed and I actually was able to sleep for a few hours.<p>

_Knock. Knock._

"Max," a tentative voice came through the door, "breakfast is ready, and it will be just the four of us okay?"

I only grunted in reply.

I got up and changed from one pair of tatty jeans and t-shirt to another one, pulled my hair into a messy pony tail and walked towards the kitchen.

As I was walking I mapped out the house, all the escape routes and possible hiding places. I learnt to do this at a young age; it helped in most situations to know the layout of the place you are. Escaping was much easier this way.

"You can sit here Max," Nudge spoke quietly, in a strained voice as she pointed me to a seat, the table was built for eight but as there were only four of us we sat at the end near the door. The seat Nudge had pointed me too was the one next to the wall, the way the table was placed meant no one would be able to walk behind me and I would be able to see the kitchen and living room with ease.

I sat down as the food was placed on the table, bacon and eggs, with hash-browns, tomatoes and mushrooms. Iggy was on my right, Nudge on my left and Val straight across from me. I ate slowly as did everyone else, no one spoke and it quickly became awkward.

As soon as everyone had finished I got up, put my plate on the bench and tried to race to my room.

"Wait Max," Val spoke as I reached the kitchen door," how about we go shopping for your room today, and maybe get you some new clothes as well?"

I nodded in reply and everyone ran to get ready meeting with me at the door around ten minutes later.

* * *

><p>The shopping for my room was done quickly; we had left around nine for the shops and had finished by twelve. My room was going to be on the second storey, the back room with the balcony overlooking the forest behind the house. The room was going to look awesome, with base colours of black and white and blue, red and purple decorating everything. I now had a double bed, a desk, book shelve and dressing table. People were putting it all in the room right now, they were setting it up and painting; the room would be finished my tomorrow.<p>

Right now we were shopping for everything else; clothes, shoes, electronics, school stuff for the school I would be going to in two weeks and a whole heap of stuff that I have never had before.

Val must get heaps of money from her Vet Surgery because she just kept buying me stuff. When I asked why she simply said to make up for the all the Christmases and birthdays I most likely missed. Iggy leaned over and whispered that she did it for both Nudge and him; it was like her way of saying sorry for what had happened.

So far Val had brought me the new I-phone, I-pod and laptop (why I needed all three was beyond me), a television with an inbuilt DVD player and USB port, all different nick-knacks for my room, heaps of books both for school and leisure and hundreds of CD's. The CD's because I stood looking at them for a while and Val seemed to think that meant I should have them. As much as I tried not to let it; her doing this seemed to fill me with warmth. No foster parent had spent so much on me, heck no foster parent had paid that much attention to know I had stood looking at the CD's for extra time.

I was starting to hope that maybe she would be different, as much as I tried not to; I was hoping that maybe I would find happiness here.

* * *

><p>Clothes shopping; I swear it will be the death of me.<p>

We had brought everything else; I even got jewellery, but still no clothes. Shoes were easy, converse, converse and converse. Plus a few extra styles like roman sandles, joggers and more converse.

It's not that I was being difficult; there are just no shops with the style of clothes I like. They're all clothes that show your midriff and only just cover your bum, no offence to those who wear them but they're not my style.

"Maaaaaaaaaax!" Suddenly rang out through the area, I turned to find one of my best running towards me.

"Hi Adam," I said as he pulled me into a bone crushing hug.

I knew Adam from my forty-six's foster home; he had been my next door neighbour and was the one who called the police to get me out of there. Adam had blonde hair and bright green eyes; he was eighteen and about a 6'2 in height. For a while everyone thought we were a couple, until he came out and said he played for the _other team_, if you catch my drift.

"How are you Maxi, liking your new home? Missing me?" He spoke quickly not giving me time to answer as he turned and looked towards my foster family, "they're good, the kids come to my music shop every now and then, nice enough family, wouldn't hurt a fly," he finished with a grin.

"I'm okay, yes the new homes pretty cool and yes I was missing you," I replied with a small smile.

"Max you know Adam?" Iggy sounded confused as he asked.

"Of course she knows me, who doesn't?" Adam spoke jokingly, puffing up his chest.

"We met last year, he was my next door neighbour," I told my foster family.

"Yep and now we're besties! Oh Maxie looks like you need help clothes shopping," Adam yelled as he literally dragged me through the crowd with Iggy, Nudge and Val trying to keep up.

A few hours later we were on our last stop, Adam had made sure I had enough clothes for at least three years, but as he knew my style he knew what to look for. I now have my dream wardrobe and a happy foster family and best friend.

Our last stop was Adams music store, where I of course got more CD's and an awesome CD player/docking station.

"Why aren't you buying and instruments?" Adam questioned soon after I had brought the CD player.

"What instrument can you play," Nudge cut in excitedly.

"Well let's see, Max can play guitar, electric, acoustic and base, piano and drums," Adam had a very proud look on his face as he said this.

"Well, you best go get all those instruments then, go on, go find ones you like," and with that Val walked towards the front of the store and out the exit.

"Thanks a lot Adam," if you couldn't tell that's sarcasm go to your local doctor and ask for an appointment.

"Oh come on, were you seriously thinking of giving up on your music?" he spoke disbelievingly as he pulled out a guitar set, keyboard and drum set he knew I would like. They were black and white and all had a little quote of 'Music is my escape' somewhere on the front.

I paid with the seemingly never-ending debit card Val had given me, waved good-bye to Adam and walked out of the shop.

Iggy, Nudge and Val were already sitting in the car when I got their and packed my stuff in.

"Why didn't you tell us you could play," Iggy asked as soon as I had sat down.

"It never came up," I replied shrugging as Val started the drive home.

Once both Nudge and Iggy were out of the car I whispered a quick thankyou before racing up to the guest bedroom with my things.

…...

Yeah I was deluding myself when I said I wasn't hoping.


End file.
